Richmond Homestead and Jakes Island

While in West Virginia over the summer we ventured to the Sandstone Falls area, which is home to my Revolutionary War soldier, William Cody Richmond. I got to not only walk the land that he owned, and see the sites that he saw. But, I got to see the house that is believed to be his.

The area of Sandstone Falls was originally called Richmond Falls, after the Richmond family who settled the area after the Revolutionary war. William C. Richmond was granted some of the land for his service in the war. William ended up with a lot of land before his death, a good part of it still is in the hands of Richmond descendants (male Richmond descendants).

While visiting the area, meeting the distant cousins and spending time chatting we were able to see old family photo’s that adorn the walls of the home. It was amazing to see the generational pictures all hung together.

Better yet, was driving down the balance of the mountain to see the old homestead. There are no words that convey the feelings of looking at the home, which has a distant cousin living in it. He was kind enough to let us walk his property and take pictures of the home. I have read that some do not believe that the house belonged to William, that it most likely belonged to one of his sons. To me, it does not matter. The connection with the generations that still live there, and those of us that take the pilgrimage to see it is amazing.

The home lies along the New River, not far from the main land is an island. The island is known as Jake’s Island, named after William’s son, Jacob. Jacob is my direct ancestor. Though we were not able to cross the river and walk the island, it was cool to be able to see it from shore.

I have put together a short video from the photographs I took while visiting.